My Weekly Wrap up is a summary of what this week held for me, featuring a selection of pictures from my Instagram feed.
Hello! How are you all faring this morning? We are a bit chilly here in Canberra with our biggest frost yet this winter, The week ahead has a 7 day forecast of minimum temps ranging between -3 and minus 5, so I think after lulling us into a false sense of Security Mother nature is reminding us winters not over yet!
I'd taken photos of all the lovely greenery in the potting shed during the week and while I did take extra precaution to cover and cosy my little seedlings, when I went to untuck them this morning my lettuce were frozen solid and my lettuce seedlings were in frozen soil. :( I tried to water my frozen lettuce and the water in the watering can was frozen, so I went to fill it at the tank and the tank tap was frozen! Some things are just not meant to be, its the risk you take as a gardener. I still hold hope the seedlings might pull through but I'm quite sure the plants we are eating from are lost.
In the kitchen my resolve to stick to our food budget is strengthened after a shocking blow out for July. I'm using my planner to try and keep two weeks in advance with dinner plans, this is aiding me when making a shopping list. I'm trying a different strategy of when, where and how I shop. I'm Re organising the kitchen cupboards and have cleared two shelves to dedicate for stockpiling in a smaller cupboard, I hope to have that entire cupboard dedicated to stockpiling soon ( three shelves )
I'm using my collection of Recipe books to pull new dishes from and adding them to the Plan with an aim to get us eating at least one different or new dish each week. I hope this might add some new meals to our tried and true repertoire and open my Fussy eaters up a bit. I can only Try!
Waste is an area that needs attention here also when it comes to food.
I had a major blow up with the kids yesterday. The bickering and ignored intervention eventually got to me and I went on a major rant about what they have to be grateful for. Explaining that the important stuff is the people, the love, the experiences. The things to be grateful for are the food, the roof, the clothes, the books, the education... That the devices, board games, TV shows, computer, toys ... everything else is luxury. Its stuff.
My heart has been somewhat heavy lately as I look at them and sense what I perceive as a growing sense of entitlement and lack of gratitude. More, more, more; me, me, me. I wonder about how as parents we have played our part in creating this and asking myself where is the line between encouraging and fostering their interests and spoiling them? Also what other factors are at play in creating this 'attitude'.
I really just want to derail it before it gets any bigger.
On a lighter note my knitting needles are calling to me and I borrowed this Debbie Bliss Book from the library. I have a 6 week old niece and another of my Sisters is Pregnant, I'm going to make a cardigan for Baby Scarlett, I haven't made a baby Cardigan for about 20 something years, the one and only I made was a gift to my Mum for one of my three youngest siblings, I was about 20 when I made it - forgive me for not accurately remembering the ages of all my siblings, but there are 10 of them! The further down the line they are in birth order, the harder it is for me to remember ages and dates. I'm the eldest. Anyway ... back to the knitting - I used to work in a lolly shop and would knit at the counter in quiet times, which were plentiful in our little town. I have a throw/blanket planned for the baby on the way (gender unknown) and thats one involving a hook but I have until Jan for that one so it will start a little later.
I sent off another Birthday Club gift this week and the third instalment of my Winter Yarn club arrived, this yarn is so soft, chunky and luscious in its variations. I subscribed to Jellywares winter yarn club and haven't looked up Jodies pattern Recommendations for this one yet, I still haven't finished my second instalment project! I fear if something new catches my eye I'll start on it and have an abandoned WIP, so I'm trying to put in some effort on Finishing My Kaitlyn so I can wear her this season.
I hope you are all having a lovely Weekend. x
Tammy, your observations on children and entitlement and other first world luxuries really hit a chord with me. It is something we are battling here with DS 17 especially. I wish I knew where it came from but it seems to be in the air around us, in the water we drink! Even after all the life lessons we have experienced over the years they still don't get it. I am saddened by it. Hope you can come up with a solution soon!
ReplyDeleteHi Cass, Yes eeking out of the society was something I was wondering about. :( Your DS has quite a few years yet on my Cherubs we make a point to talk about things we were grateful for as a family before bed most nights but I guess its become more a 'routine' than a reflection lately. x
DeleteHi Tammy! Thanks for commenting on my blog. So sorry to hear about your lettuce seeds and "old man winter." We had the worst winter EVER in history last year, and I keep hearing this one is going to be even worse than the last one. I need to plan a trip somewhere warm to get through it! I am a summer person. I don't have kids, but I do see the entitlement a lot. My Sister makes her daughter do chores....she has a list and a money amount associated with each chore, and her daughter has to pay half for the "stuff" she wants to buy. Not school clothes and that type of stuff, but games and such. It actually helps a little with the realization that stuff isn't free. I am VERY interested in your eating, budget, cookbook idea! You have really motivated me to try harder. I have two pantries, full of stuff on messy shelves I can't see or reach, and tons of cookbooks in boxes packed away (some are out. We moved into one room in a basement and we are building our house on our own. The contents of our home are packed away). Food prices have sky rocketed here and I'd like to be more budget conscious. Enjoyed your blog. I'll be back!
ReplyDeleteCindy Bee